Tangled: a septiplier au fanfic
by RosiePosie98
Summary: Jack is on the run for stealing a precious crown when he stumbles upon a high tower in the middle of nowhere - inside he finds a young man with a dream and very, very long hair...
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

Once upon a time, as many fairytales start, there was a great kingdom ruled by a beloved king and queen who were expecting their first child.

However, at around eight months into the pregnancy, the queen became ill due to a strange sickness, and when the time came for the baby to be born, she was in desperate need of help. The only thing that could cure her was a legendary magical flower said to have sprouted from a single drop of sunlight in the mountains. The king, determined to save his wife and child, sent out almost all of his guards to search for the flower, not knowing that it was already in the hands of a simple peasant man.

The man, a vain travelling Swede named Felix, had found the flower many years ago after it had first grown and used it for a different kind of healing. He was very proud and fixated on his young and 'fabulous' appearance, and used the plant's powers to keep himself youthful by quietly singing a specific song that he had learned to unlock it:

 _Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring what once was mine, heal what has been hurt, change the fate's design, save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine, what once was mine_

Doing this over the years had kept Felix alive for centuries and since he was the only one who knew about it, the flower was his to use.

However, when he came to the mountain-top on this certain night, Felix saw that his hideaway had been intruded. Soldiers from the nearby kingdom had surrounded the flower and were digging it up out of the ground. Horrified, Felix hid in the the darkness to watch the scene unfold. The soldiers pulled the flower up and wrapped it in cloth, carefully carrying it away while cheering and celebrating.

Felix started to panic. Where were they taking his possession? How did they know it was here? What were they going to do with it? Anger boiling up inside of him, Felix stepped out to follow the troops.

Once back in the kingdom, the flower was hastily made into a broth and rushed to the queen who drank it and was immediately, miraculously, healed. A few hours later the baby was born, a son, perfectly healthy with a surprisingly full head of hair that had a mysterious golden streak running through it from the scalp to the tips. No-one could explain it.

The townspeople rejoiced at the presentation of the new prince, also relieved that the queen was well. To celebrate his birth, thousands of golden lanterns were sent up into the sky in honour of the child, whom the king and queen named Mark.

Unfortunately, the family's happiness was not to last.

Two weeks later, Felix had finally managed to sneak into the castle. He searched through every hallway, looked behind every door, continuously singing the song to locate the plant. When he entered the king and queen's chambers and the song left his lips, Felix was very surprised by what he saw - a small baby in the cot, whose hair suddenly began to shine as brilliantly as the sun. He had found his flower.

Felix approached the cot without a word and lifted the shortest strand of hair, enough to curl around his finger, before snipping it off with his scissors. His eyes widened when the piece he had cut off stopped glowing and turned jet black in his hands.

"Interesting…" Felix mused as he realized what he needed to do. Shifting a glance to the royals in the bed, he carefully reached out and lifted the child up, whose unsettled murmurs stirred his parents - they awoke to see the cloaked figure steadying the prince in their arms, shooting them a look of pure hatred before exiting through the bedroom window and disappearing over the balcony.

The alarms were sounded and the guards rushed out to stop the kidnapper, but they were both long gone, never to be seen again.

Felix took Mark to his old home - an empty, ancient tower in the middle of a secret glade - and raised him as if he were his own son, teaching him the incantation to activate his hair's power so that Felix could live young and immortal once again, making sure to keep Mark as isolated and safe as he had done with the flower. Mark grew up being told that the world was a dangerous and cruel place and dreadful things would happen to him if he ever went outside, but those stories only fuelled his curiosity and longing to see the world beyond his tower, especially with those weird lanterns he always saw.

The king and queen, utterly heartbroken at the loss of their only child, had decided to release those same lanterns into the sky every year on their son's birthday, hoping that he might see them and remember what they meant, so that he might come back to them.

Reuniting with their prince was the dream that they clung to.

 **A/N: Hi hi! Whew, hope you like that little prologue there, now we can get to the good stuff lol - just to clarify, I don't have any issues with Pewds, he's awesome and everything, but I just thought he'd be hilarious as Gothel XD Anyway, I hope you enjoy the rest of the story, I've been wanting to write it for a while, if not just for a guilty pleasure haha :D**


	2. Chapter 1: Inside Looking Out

Chapter 1: Inside Looking Out

"One...two...three….."

There was a shuffle and panicked clanking of wood against wood as Tiny Box Tim, a small crate that Mark had accidentally brought to life with his hair when he was little, squeezed through the gap between the shutters to get to the windowsill. He quickly scanned the area before hopping behind a plant pot, making sure he was well out of sight.

"SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN AH HA!" Mark yelled excitedly as he pulled the shutters back, expecting to see his little friend - Tim froze in place.

Upon not seeing him, Mark rolled his eyes and leaned back, running a hand through his hair, "Welp, nothing out of the ordinary here…"

The little box smirked and chuckled to himself, maybe he'd actually win this round - suddenly, Tim's world was turned upside-down as hair wrapped around him and pulled him up from his hiding spot.

"Got ya haha!" Mark grinned as Tim let out an annoyed shriek, before putting him back down with his hair, "Sorry bud, but it would be helpful if you went to _other_ places to hide, be a little less _predictable_ , yeah? Anyway, that's 25 points to me and...nil to you. Do you want to play again?"

Tim looked up with a bored expression. Mark sighed overdramatically and sat down on the windowsill, "Well can you think of anything else to do?"

Tim's wooden face lit up at he turned around, pointing out at the green pastures below them.

Mark frowned and shook his head, fiddling with the golden hair in his hands,"Yeah, no. No. Big no-no. I'm fine up here thank you very much, but you can go by yourself if you want. You know Dad would never let me go anyway!"

Tim would've raised his eyebrows if he had any.

Mark scooped the box up with a smile, "Aw c'mon, don't be like that! We still have fun in this place!"

He got up and went inside, resting Tim on the top of a bookshelf, then looked around his tower with a fresh sense of motivation, "You know what day it is Tim?"

Tim shrugged.

"Monday!" Mark continued, "And you know what Monday is?"

Tim shrugged again.

"IT'S CHORES MORNING!" Mark exclaimed, punching the air in excitement, "LET'S GET CLEANING AND STUFF!"

He proceeded to run around tidying all of his living space - sweeping the floors, making the bed, doing the laundry, gathering up every speck of dust he could find (even the imaginary ones), sweeping the floors again in case he'd missed anything, dusting the ceiling, brushing his hair and many other things to kill time. When he had finished Mark looked up at the clock to see he was right on schedule - he had two hours to fill until his dad arrived.

Thus began Mark's 'break time', reading books, drawing, dancing, yelling "HELLO!" really loudly out the window - he spent most of his time playing games with Tim like chess, dominoes, jenga, musical chairs, finish my sentence and what's the time mr wolf (A/N: Google them if you don't know what any of those are).

After a while though, Mark sat on the windowsill and looked out longingly - this confused Tim because he had never done anything like this before.

"What am I doing, Tim?" Mark began, "I want to go outside, I really do but...Dad says it's an awful place." A frown crossed his face, "But why does he stay out there if it's so bad, why doesn't he stay here with me? I don't get it, I mean, I'm turning 26 tomorrow for pete's sake! I can look after myself now, I'm a grown man!" He sighed and leaned back against the window frame, "I'd give anything to go out there, even for one day! I want to see other people, other places, play other games and even..."

He suddenly shook his head as if he was getting rid of a bad thought, "No, no, I couldn't do that...could I?" Mark's eyes locked with Tim's, a mixture of fear and excitement, "Could I?"

He got up and walked over to the fireplace - or rather, the wall above it that was covered by a curtain. Pulling the fabric back revealed a beautiful mural on the wall of Mark sat underneath millions of tiny lanterns.

"All I really want to know is what these things are and where they come from!" Mark explained, "Don't you think it's weird that they appear every year on my birthday? Every year without fail? Who's sending them, why are they there, what do they mean? I'm dying to know! Maybe, now that I'm old enough, Dad might let me go and find out."

XxX

All was quiet and calm in the kingdom with the magnificent castle towering high in the sky - however, if you'd looked close enough, you might've seen three figures doing parkour over the rooftops.

"Hup! Ha! Haha this is great!" Jack grinned as he jumped over the stonework, "Seriously I should do this more often!"

"Will you just shut up already?" Ken hissed as he and his friend Cry followed behind, "Do you want the whole kingdom to hear you!?"

Jack stopped on a ledge and looked back at the disgruntled men he called 'teammates', "Erm, in case you hadn't noticed, we're waaayy up high on top of a freakin' castle and all the little people are waaayy down there in the little town, I don't think they can hear us from up here!"

Ken raised a hand to protest but Jack carried on, "And besides, who's brilliant idea was it to rob the royal family in broad daylight!?"

"There are less guards around during the day," Ken said, "And when you're desperate for money you do desperate things -"

"Yeah, most people get a job."

Ken's face turned red with anger, "Just keep moving forward, we're running out of time!"

"Aye aye, captain!" Jack gave him a mock salute and the three continued scaling the castle walls.

Soon they reached the top of a tower. Ken and Cry opened a hatch and started preparing their gear whilst Jack looked out at the beautiful landscape, "Wow, would ya look at that view! Wait till I tell the guys back home!"

"What're you talking about?" Cry questioned, "You don't have a home - wait, you don't know anybody else besides us!"

"Well I guess I'll just have to live here then." Jack stamped his foot on the roof tiles, "This castle suits me quite nicely - you guys can sleep in the pig pen or whatever."

Ken rolled his eyes, "Just come here!"

Jack froze, recognising that as his cue, "Wha - erm, well you don't have to sleep in the pig pen if you don't want to, we have guest bedrooms -"

All the young man could do was wail as he was dragged towards the hatch and a rope was tied tightly around his waist, "C'mon guys you're not serious are you? I can't go down there -"

"If you don't do it we won't get fed tonight." Ken said simply, "Besides, you don't actually have a choice!" He suddenly shoved Jack down the hatch who had to cover his mouth to stop himself from screaming as he fell - thankfully Ken and Cry had strong grips on the rope and were able to hold him in place, "Now get whatever looks most expensive!"

Suspended in mid-air, Jack dared to open his eyes and look around as he was lowered into the room - he was in the treasury, the place where the royals kept all their valuable possessions. Obviously they all cost a fortune and these three thieves knew they'd be rich if they were ever able to get a piece and sell it off; that was why they were here, so they might buy their next loaf of bread instead of steal it.

Jack let out a shaky breath scanning the room's contents - necklaces, the crown jewels, armor, bracelets...then one particular thing caught his eye. It was a golden crown with many gems set in it that was conveniently very close to where he was hanging. This definitely belonged to one of the members of the royal family but it didn't look grand enough to be the king or queen's, so why was it under a glass case when everything else was freely left in the room?

Hold on, Jack thought, didn't these two have a long lost child or something? I mean, they're probably dead so they won't be needing this...

Without a word Jack reached out, lifted the glass case and grabbed the crown before tugging the rope that was holding him. Unfortunately he was so low down that the ripple didn't reach Ken and Cry up top, so Jack just shouted at them, "HEY GUYS! GUYS! I GOT THE THING YOU WANTED! CAN YOU PULL ME UP!?"

The men snapped into action and they began hauling Jack back up towards the roof while guards, who had stormed in after hearing the Irishman's loud voice, filled the room and tried to get Jack - they even threw things at him which he found very scary.

Ken and Cry worked quickly to get Jack out through the hatch.

"Ok ok, what did you get!?" Ken almost squealed.

"Um, er, this crown thing…" Jack held the object up to Ken who snatched it out of his hands.

"Haha, pretty good, Jackaboy! You should do this more often!" He smiled slyly, running his fingers over the crown.

Jack stared at him wide-eyed in horror, "WHAT! NO WAY! I am not doing anything like that ever again!"

"Whatever, this is worth a lot of money," Ken clearly ignored him, putting the crown in his satchel, "We're gonna get stinkin' rich off of this! Now let's get outta here!"

The three men then dashed back across the castle pursued by the guards. They got into the forest without a hitch and they had travelled deep into the woods when Jack stopped to rest by a tree, "Wait guys, hold on…"

"What're you doing we can't stop!" Ken exclaimed, but Cry was standing there sniggering. "What's funny?"

Cry pointed at the tree. Ken looked, and laughed too.

Jack frowned at them, straightening up from his hunched position, "...What's up with you guys…?"

He then looked at the tree which had a wanted poster pinned to the bark - with his name on it. His face looked really weird. This picture of him was...derping. Like a trollface.

"What the fu-" Jack started but the author suddenly appeared through a magical portal and whacked him on the head.

"HEY! No swearing thank you very much, I'm keeping this PG-13! I don't care if you do it in real life - anyway, you might want to run."

"Wha -" Jack blinked and the girl was gone, then the sound of thundering hooves echoed through the forest and he knew he needed to get going.

After running past endless rows of trees, Jack, Ken and Cry came to a tall ledge that blocked their path - all they could do was climb over it.

"I'M GOING FIRST!" Jack exclaimed, "I'VE GOT THE BIG MUSCLES!"

Ken and Cry groaned watching Jack claw his way to the top, almost falling on many occasions. Once over the ledge he reached out to them with a smile, "Pass me the crown, it'll be easier to climb up without that thing in the way."

"Oh yeah, sure." Ken agreed, passing his satchel to Jack who had to fight to keep a straight face once it was in his hands.

"Ok, now help me up." Ken said expectantly, but Jack burst into laughter.

"Oh my god I can't believe you fell for that you idiot!" Jack held his sides.

Ken and Cry stared up at him in confusion, "What're you talking about?"

"SEE YA!" Jack yelled as he took off, leaving the pair to the mercy of the guards.

Now the crown was all his.

XxX

Mark paced back and forth, waiting with anticipation. Any second now...

"OH MARKIMOO! MARKIMOO LET DOWN YOUR HAIR!"

"SURE DAD!" Mark called back, tying his hair around a metal spike in the wall before throwing the lot out the window, watching it fall down to his visitor below.

Felix smiled, picking up the ends and turning it into a noose, putting his feet in before Mark began hauling his hair back up.

Once at the window Felix stepped down into the tower, throwing his cloak hood back and pulling the younger man into a hug, "Ah, Mark, how are you?"

"I'm fine Dad," Mark replied, "You ok?"

"I'm exhausted!" Felix exclaimed, running around and collapsing onto his armchair by the fireplace, "Soo tired! Could I brush your hair please?"

"Yeah but...can I ask you a question?" Mark ventured.

"After we've done your hair, dear," Felix said, picking up the hairbrush, "It looks knotted!"

"I did it this morning!" Mark protested.

Felix looked at him sternly, "Mark -"

"B-but..."

"JUST LET ME TOUCH YOUR HAIR!" Felix snapped.

Mark blinked. Tension filled the room.

Felix laughed it off nervously, "U-um well it's just been so long since I last saw you, I'm sorry...can I please just-"

"...Sure." Mark said sympathetically, "Of course." He walked over and kneeled down in front of the armchair.

Felix smiled, holding the brush up - Mark knew what to do, taking a deep breath.

"FLOWERGLEAMANDGLOWLETYOURPOWERSHINE -"

Felix was taken aback by this sudden surge of magical energy, "Wait Mark, hold on -"

But Mark didn't stop. He rushed through the whole song and his hair shone so brilliantly that Felix was almost blinded, "Mark, MARK -!"

"- BRINGBACKWHATONCEWASMINE~!" Mark finished and turned around, barely pausing for breath, "So Dad can I ask you that question now?"

Felix composed himself, feeling refreshed after taking in the healing power, "Yeah, what do you wanna ask me?"

"Do you know what day tomorrow is?"

Felix frowned, "...Tuesday?"

"And you know what Tuesday is...?"

"No, wha -"

"IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW!" Mark grinned.

"Whaaat?" Felix's eyes widened, "It is?" (He'd actually forgotten).

Mark laughed, "Yeah! And you know how people do special things on their birthdays? Well...I was wondering if I could go outside and see the floating lights." He got up and revealed the painting.

Felix frowned, "Mark - no, that's not a good idea."

"You always say that!" Mark whined, "Why not?"

"Because I know what it's like out there! You wouldn't last a minute -"

"How do y-" Mark tried to cut in but Felix had gone over the top.

" - out there with all those greedy thieves and murderers, I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you! You don't have any fighting skills to defend yourself with, and what if you caught the plague or some other disease? Not to mention those barrels that give you tons of splinters -"

"Dad I'd be fine, it's just one quick trip!" Mark protested, "One look at them then I'd be back here! Please, I've wanted to see them for years! I wouldn't do anything stupid -"

"You would!" Felix laughed, "You would! What experience do you have out there? You'd stick out like a sore thumb, you'd be dead in minutes, and I'd be left to grow old alone with no-one else to talk to, filled with grief over you!"

Mark stopped, thinking it over. Felix stepped close to him, stroking his hair with a sly grin, "Do you know why those murderers and thieves would want to get you?"

Mark shrugged.

"They'd want your hair…" Felix whispered, "They'd want it's hidden power...trust me, I've heard people talking about it, how much something like that is worth, how they'd _kill_ to get it...you wouldn't be safe out there, not for a second - that's why I keep you here, I _protect_ you, because no-one else in this world will. No-one understands like I do." He paused and stepped back, letting his words sink in. "Daddy knows best…!"

"But…" Mark sighed, giving up.

Felix pouted and put his hands on Mark's shoulders, looking him in the eyes, "Markimoo?"

"Yeah?" Mark lifted his face up.

Felix, narrowed his eyes, "I'm only trying to keep you safe ok? Here is a safe place, out there is not. Promise me you won't leave this tower?"

"...I promise." Mark agreed as he was pulled into a hug, looking up at his painting and feeling hopeless once again.

 **A/N: WOOHOO THE FULL CHAPTER! See I finished it! ^_^**

 **Also if what the 'characters' are saying sounds a bit weird, I'm English, not American or Irish, so this story will mainly contain English mannerisms as I don't know American or Irish mannerisms all that well ^_^; Anyway I hope you like it.**

 **And thank you to everyone who followed/favorited, you can leave a comment/review too if you want ;)**

 **Stay tuned!**


	3. Chapter 2: A Deal?

_**Chapter 2: A Deal?**_

Jack ran through the forest like a ninja, his mind racing with panicked thoughts, _Just keep running, just keep running…_

He was being pursued by a determined Captain of the Guard and their horse who had seen him leave with the satchel, and were right on his tail. Jack ducked under branches and jumped over logs, clutching the satchel close as he ran - he heard screams and a thud, looking back he saw that the captain had fallen off his horse, but the creature was still speeding towards him.

 _Jeez that's one fast horse!_ Jack thought, sharply turning a corner to try and lose it...and crashed into a tree.

"OW!" He cried, falling back on his bum and rubbing his sore face. Lifting his hand Jack saw ink smudged across his palm, "What on earth…?"

He looked at the tree and saw a freshly printed Wanted poster stuck to it, again with his name on it. The picture was now messed up but Jack could tell that whatever face it had wasn't human - it looked like a Shiba Inu dog. (A/N: Hi-five if you know the meme!)

"They'll never find me if they think I look like that!" Jack grinned, getting up and dusting himself off. He turned around to come face-to-face with the horse that had been chasing him, who snorted angrily.

"AAH!" Jack yelled and jumped back, staring into it's strange septic green and blue eyes. He froze as the horse leaned in and smelled him all over. It broke out into a whinnying fit once it had smelt the satchel and tried to get in the bag but Jack pushed it away, "Whoa, hold on there, er, _Sammy,_ there's nothing in -" A lightbulb went off in his head as Jack remembered what he had in his pocket.

Reaching in, he pulled out a fresh red apple and dangled in in front of the horse who immediately stopped to stare at it, "Ah ha! Hey buddy do you want some of this? Do ya? It's really tast - HEY!" Jack gasped as the apple was snatched straight out of his hand and gobbled up by the horse.

It was then that Jack remembered that that apple was meant to be his lunch.

"Goddamnit I don't believe this…" Jack facepalmed and turned to walk away, but he felt the horse nudge his back.

"WHAT?" Jack looked back and the horse happily nuzzled him, sticking it's nose in his pockets. "Sam, Sam, buddy - what am I doing naming this weird horse...?" Jack frowned as he found himself stroking it's muzzle, "Um Sam I've got to go so er, promise me you'll be a good horse and don't tell anybody that you've seen me ok? You'll be a _very_ good horsie and stay here?"

Sam snorted in response.

"Good, good. Well, see ya." Jack walked away, happy that he had managed to trick a horse - he then realised how stupid that sounded, and how the past five minutes had just been extremely weird, he'd been talking to an _animal_ \- and checked the satchel to see if the crown was still in there. Thankfully it was and Jack's mind thought back to Cry and Ken.

 _They must hate my guts right now!_ Jack couldn't stop the grin that spread on his face. "Haha sucks to be you guys!" He yelled to the forest and laughed.

The forest neighed back in response.

Jack looked back, "What the - OH GODDAMNIT!" He groaned when he saw Sam was following him.

Sam nuzzled him lovingly, then stuck his nose in Jack's pocket again.

"Sam I don't have anymore food." Jack said, trying to pull away, "You're supposed to be a good horse and stay here!"

He continued walking. Sam followed.

Jack walked a little bit faster. Sam was still there.

Jack was a little freaked out and broke into a run, "GO HOME SAM!"

And so Jack was now running through the deepest parts of the forest with a besotted horse galloping after him.

Today could not get any weirder.

As he was running Jack saw a cave in the corner of his eye - Sam had gotten stuck behind some trees so Jack took his opportunity and bolted towards the cave, which turned out to be some kind of secret passageway. Jack heard footsteps approaching and ducked behind a boulder.

"Ah, you still got it Felix!" A male voice echoed proudly, "Safe for another year, haha!"

Peering over the top of the boulder Jack saw the owner of the voice, a hooded figure wearing a long cloak, walk past and disappear into the forest, but he didn't see their face.

Then Sam's whinnying started again and Jack panicked. He knew he only had one option so he got up and ran through the passageway.

When he came through the other side the sun blinded him for a few moments, but once able to see what was in front of him, Jack's jaw dropped.

In the middle of the glade stood an old, abandoned tower.

Jack stared, taking it in. What on earth was that doing there? It looked like the perfect place to hide and it looked like no-one lived up there - Jack was excited but he had to be sure that it was empty. He ran up to the base of the tower, put his hands up to his mouth and yelled, "HELLO!?"

In his tower, Mark jumped when he heard a funny-sounding male voice shouting from outside.

 _Wait what is that!?_ Mark thought, raising his eyebrows at Tim. His dad had left a while ago, why would he have come back? Then again, that didn't sound like his dad, so who could it be?

He heard the voice again, only it was making strained grunts and huffs. Mark crept up to the windowsill and dared to peek over the edge, seeing a man climbing up the tower wall.

"WE'RE BEING INVADED!" Mark whisper-yelled to Tim, breaking out into a full-blown panic. "What do we do, what do we do!?"

He looked around the tower for a place to hide - he couldn't fit in the kitchen cupboard, his bedroom was too obvious, where could he go…

Mark's eyes finally drifted upwards towards the wooden beams holding up the roof. It was very dark and he sat up there all the time, it was perfect!

"C'mon Tim!" He said, putting the little box on his shoulder before moving up.

Jack finally pulled himself over the windowsill, crying out in pain - every one of his muscles hurt, but it was worth it as far as his safety was concerned.

Flopping over the side onto the floor and taking deep breaths, he looked around the room.

Someone lived here.

The place was too clean, too nice to be abandoned. Sure, some of the furniture looked a little bit old but it all looked recently used. A chill ran down Jack's spine as he got to his feet, suddenly feeling like he was being watched, "Hello? Is anyone here?"

No reply, but Jack could've sworn he saw a figure up in the rafters.

Shaking the feeling off, Jack turned his attention to the satchel and pulled the crown out, amazed that it was still in one piece. He hadn't been able to really look at it and took some time just standing and admiring it. This thing really was beautiful.

He then heard a creak.

"Ok, who's there?" He said, looking up.

"TINY BOX TIM GO!" A voice yelled, and Jack felt something hard and sharp hit the back of his head, making him lose his balance. He smacked his head on the floor and everything went black.

Mark watched with baited breath, waiting for this person to get up again. When he didn't, Mark began to get worried. Had he just killed someone? If he had, Mark decided to blame it all on Tim. Tim was the one who had hit that guy's head.

Slowly climbing down, Mark tip-toed towards the figure whom Tim was examining closely, "Is he dead…?"

Tim shrugged, and poked the figure's shoulder.

Mark joined him, but their efforts did nothing to rouse the stranger. He then noticed that this person's chest was moving up and down - that meant he was breathing and thus, alive. Mark let out a sigh of relief, telling Tim to stop poking. He found himself staring at this person's face, his small beard, scruffy brown hair and the way the light shone on him was pretty.

He was snapped out of his daydream by Tim jumping around to get his attention.

"What is it, boy?"

Tim pointed at the round golden object that the person had dropped which had landed on the ground a few feet away.

 _Oooh, shiny!_ Mark thought as he reached out and picked it up. Tim hopped closer to Mark's side to get a better look.

It was cool to the touch, with ruby, sapphire and emerald gemstones set into the shining metal.

"...What is it?" Mark frowned while he studied it. Tim didn't know, but he liked it. Mark tried to figure out what to do with it, putting his arm through it, sticking his foot through it, biting it and finally putting the thing on his head.

Somehow it felt right there.

"I think this is a...hat?" He guessed, pausing for a few moments before throwing it on the floor, "Pretty stupid hat."

"Mn-numn-cake…?" The other man murmured, starting to come around.

"AAAHHH GO BACK TO SLEEP!" Mark shrieked, punching him in the exact spot that Tim had hit earlier, knocking the man out again.

Looking at Tim, he whispered, "What do we do with him…?"

X

"Owwwwwwwww….." Jack groaned as he came to his senses, head pounding, "Owww...wait, what…"

He opened his eyes to find himself sat in a chair, somehow not slumped over. He tried to raise his hand to rub the sleep from his eyes but found that he couldn't.

And when had he sat down in a chair?

Jack's eyes grew wide as he suddenly realized the situation - he was tied up, but not with rope...with _hair?_

"A-Are you ok?" A timid voice called out from somewhere up in the rafters, sounding concerned.

"Who's there?" Jack said shakily, "What do you want with me?"

"No I think it's what do YOU want with ME?" The voice corrected, "You can't escape, and I don't normally get visitors...SO START TALKING!"

"About what?"

"Why are you here, and how did you find my tower?"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know this was your place, I was just getting chased by this weird horse and –"

The voice suddenly cut him off, "Do you want my hair?"

"What?"

"I knew it!" The voice cried out, seeming to be on a whole different page, "Well you're not gonna get it! I've got you tied up and useless and I've got...guns and swords AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE THEM!"

"Why would I want your hair? What did you do with my satchel?"

"Just you wait till my dad gets back, he'll sort you out, you - you weird buttstabber!"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Jack cried, "I don't want you hair, seriously what -"

The voice sounded surprised, pausing for a moment, "...You...don't?"

"No!"

Silence.

Then the voice spoke again, "But what if you're lying?"

Jack let out a frustrated sigh, mentally facepalming, "Seriously do I look like some random dude who wants your hair?"

"...I don't know, maybe! Tim what do I do?"

"Who's Tim?"

"My friend - wait no shut up you're not getting my hair and that's that!"

"SERIOUSLY I DON'T WANT IT!" Jack paused, "Just who _are_ you?"

"What I'm not telling you that!" The voice babbled, "You could kill me!"

"...By knowing your name?"

"It could happen!"

"Oh my god you are crazy...can you at least come into the light? I'd like to see who I'm talking to -."

"WELL THAT'S FINE 'CAUSE I HAVE GUNS AND SWOOOORRRRRDDS!" The voice yelled, and a young man suddenly jumped down and ran towards Jack, stopping a few metres away in a defencive stance, holding his weapon up to the Irishman's face.

"...That's a frying pan." Jack pointed out.

"I can still hit you with it." The man said, trying to be threatening.

Jack's eyes drifted up past the frying pan to look at this person. He had lightly tanned skin and long dark hair with a golden streak in it. His narrowed dark brown eyes stared back at him with a hint of fear. He looked...oddly attractive.

The man's deep voice brought him back to reality, "...What's up with your voice? It sounds really weird."

"It's my accent. I'm Irish, our voices sound kinda different."

"I like it…" The man sighed dreamily, but caught himself and snapped back to his threatening stance.

An awkward silence came between the two. Jack found himself unable to make eye contact with the stranger, his cheeks feeling slightly warm.

Mark wasn't doing any better, guilt was seeping into his mind as he looked at the young man and his heart pounded from what he assumed was just an adrenaline rush - after all, it wasn't every day that a random guy broke into his tower.

This carried on for a good five minutes before Mark's arms grew tired and he lowered them in defeat; Jack let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding and looked around the room trying to think of something to say, when the sunlight shone on a particular object by the window…

 _The crown!_ Jack's eyes widened.

Mark followed his gaze upon seeing the Irishman's reaction and his lips curled into a sly smile, walking over and picking it up as an idea started to form in his head, "Is this yours?"

"No-uh yes!" Jack said, "Yes that's definitely mine! Can I have it back...please?"

"Sure," Mark paced over and handed the crown to Jack only to snatch it out of his reach before he could grab it, " _If_ you do a small favour for me."

Jack frowned, his mouth dropping in an 'o' shape. "Excuse me?"

Mark walked around him and with a mighty tug of his hair swung Jack's chair around to face the wall behind with the fireplace and mural before walking towards them. He rested a hand on the artwork, "Do you know what these are?"

"...Which bit?"

"The...the yellow floaty things, do you know what they are?"

"...Lanterns." Jack frowned, becoming more and more confused.

"Ok!" Mark smiled at this new information, "Where do these... _lanterns_ come from?"

Jack thought for a moment, "The Gameona kingdom. The king and queen light them in honour of their lost child or something - it's north of this tower, takes about a day to get there on foot - hang on, why do you want to know?"

"I wanna see them with my own two eyes!" Mark grinned, his eyes lighting up, "They've been flying over my roof ever since I was a little kid and I've wanted to see them in person for years! It's like a...lifelong dream of mine." He chuckled at the last sentence, rubbing his neck sheepishly.

Jack smiled at this action and asked, "Where do I come into this?"

"Well I can't go on my own obviously!" Mark picked up the crown and satchel, "My dad never lets me go outside so it'd have to be a kind of sneaky operation - so you're gonna take me!"

Jack hesitated. He definitely didn't feel like going on an impromptu road trip with a possibly crazy stranger, but unfortunately he was now too tied up (HAHA) into this situation to back out of it. He was about to reluctantly agree when the penny dropped.

He'd be returning to the scene of his crime.

"Uh - um - I - I -" He struggled to find the words. He couldn't go back to Gameona, he'd be arrested on the spot! But then, if he declined, who knows what this guy would do…

Jack decided to risk it.

"Uh, I...can't."

Mark frowned, "What? Why not?"

"Uuuuhhhh…" Jack thought for a moment, "I...get hayfever? There's so many plants and flowers there I would just -"

He had no time to finish his sentence as the young man marched up to him and grabbed onto his arms, tears welling in their eyes.

"Please? Please? Look, it'd just be one quick trip, my birthday's tomorrow, as soon as I've seen those lanterns we'll come straight back here and I'll let you go on your way with your weird hat and you can forget that this ever happened! Capiche?"

Jack gulped, "Uh...n-"

Suddenly, the man grabbed the frying pan and swung towards Jack's face, only just stopping before he hit them. His eyes bore into Jack's very soul, burning with aggression, " _Capiche?_ " He growled.

"Y-yeah," Jack agreed nervously, "Yeah, whatever you say, let's do it, haha…"

Mark immediately straightened up, returning to his happier state, his ecstatic smile beamed as bright as the sun, "Great! Glad to know you're on board! Thanks - hey Tim, can you help me untie him?"

Jack looked around, expecting another mysterious young man to appear out of the shadows - instead, he felt a weight jump onto his shoulder and looked down to see a small wooden box with bright blue eyes and a mischievous grin looking up at him innocently.

He screamed.

X

Once the incident had passed, and Jack's interpretation of reality had been further shattered, the two men and small box had begun to prepare themselves for the descent down.

Both men peered over the windowsill edge, Jack's head began spinning at the height, "So, um, _how_ are we gonna get down…? It's way too high for us to just jump out the window…"

"Hmm…" Mark thought for a moment, his eyes falling on his hair, "Ah, I've got an idea, follow me."

The two men walked to the middle of the room. Mark's eyes shifted between the wooden beams and Jack as he thought, then he picked up his hair and began wrapping it around the Irishman's waist, much to Jack's distaste.

"What the - seriously, this again?" He forced out a laugh to try and hide his anxiety, "Do you like tying people up!?"

"No! I'm trying something out!" Mark snapped and threw his hair up and over one of the beams, "C'mre."

Jack meekly followed him to his table where they made the climb up and onto the beam, where it finally clicked for him, "Wait, are you doing what I think you're doing?"

"I need to know if I can hold your weight." Mark replied simply, "How else are we gonna get down safely?"

"Ok, but let me know when we're gonna goOOO-" Jack almost screamed as Mark pushed himself off the beam and they both hurtled towards the ground, Mark tried to hold everything up but he didn't have the strength - however he did have quick reflexes and, taking Jack in his arms, swung himself forward and let go of the side of his hair that was around the beam before aiming towards the cushioned sofa and magically landing on it with a loud thud. The sofa toppled over on impact and the two young men rolled onto the floor in a sprawled out heap.

Mark let out short, deep breaths, only now realizing how much his scalp hurt. He looked at Jack with a grin, "Well, I guess that's a no then."

The Irishman simply stared. This guy was _insane._ Completely and utterly bonkers. And had a really great laugh - wait what?

 _Snap out of it Jack!_ He said to himself firmly, _Now is not the time for...weird feelings._

The two did some unsuccessful brainstorming for about five minutes before Jack gave up and decided to manually climb back down the tower himself. He grabbed his satchel and walked back to the windowsill and climbed over, preparing his footing for the descent, when a thought occurred to him.

He had know idea what this handsome stranger was called.

He'd need a name to give to the authorities after all.

Jack cleared his throat before asking, "Hey, uh, what's your name?"

The male hesitated, and sheepishly ran a hand through his long, sleek hair, "Uh, it's Mark."

Their eyes met for a brief moment, now fully acknowledging each other, before Jack dared to look down and stop putting off his escape any longer.

"Right, well, see ya at the bottom!"

Mark blinked as he dropped downwards, and took one final look around at his tower. Tim jumped up onto his head and patted it.

"I guess we're really doing this, huh Tim?"

An uneasy knot began to grow in his stomach as he walked to the windowsill. God knows how much trouble he'd be in if his dad found out about what he was doing. Mark shook his head violently; no, that wasn't going to happen, he'd be in and out like a shadow, no-one would notice he was even gone.

Well, there wasn't anyone else around _to_ notice anyway.

Mark readied his hair and took a deep breath, staring at the green grass below. It was calling to him, begging him to just come down and explore...after almost 26 years of saying no to that instinct, Mark finally allowed himself to let go.

He pushed himself off the windowsill and began abseiling down through the air, feeling the wind rush past his ears and the sun's warmth against his body; the young man couldn't help but laugh, joy was bubbling out and overflowing in this feeling of freedom, his eyes were wide with wonder as he stared at the trees, the mountain rock and the birds that flew past high into the air. He saw Jack on the fast approaching ground below him, and readily stretched out his feet to land on the grass.

Mark gasped at the softness and the detail. Grass wasn't just some big green blanket, it was billions of tiny individual blades, each different from the last. He looked up at the trees and jumped when he saw how they were tall and towered above _him_. He ran over to one and embraced it, running his hands over the dry, crusty bark, indulging all his senses into this incredible new experience.

"So...you're pretty happy, I assume?" Jack said as he wandered across to this being staring at the world like a newborn babe, "And a tree hugger, apparently? No worries, I get it, you...haven't been here in a long...time...actually when _was_ the last time you - actually, you're not even listening to me so I'll just be quiet and go over here."

Mark straightened up slowly, "Thank you."

"Huh?" Jack whipped back around and Mark looked surprised, like he'd said something he shouldn't.

"Uh, nothing! Um, which way to the Gameona - OH MY WHAT IS THAT?" He rushed to a pile of rocks covered in moss around a stream and cautiously poked the green fern with a twig, then his finger, "So _sooooft_ …!"

Jack just couldn't believe his eyes. How had this man been hidden away for so long, and why? Moreover, how was he going to get to Gameona and back while still keeping his head?

And then he got an idea. A mean, devious idea.

Mark had no knowledge of this land whatsoever, he wouldn't have a clue where the kingdom is! Jack could just take the guy anywhere and he'd be none the wiser!

He could just take off in the night like he always does and sell the crown off and…

It was then that Jack remembered the crown was all the way back up in that tower.

 _Dammit!_ He physically winced before turning on the nice guy charm and walking to Mark who was fixated in the stream.

"Hey, yeah that moss and stuff is cool, so, uh...shall we get going?"

Mark looked up at him with happy tears in his eyes, "...Uh huh."

Jack flashed him a killer smile as they stood and began walking east, "Good, right this way…"

 **A/N:**

 **Helloooo I am alive! And so sO SORRYYY FOR THE INACTIVITYYY**

 **I WILL TRY AND GET A NEW CHAPTER OUT SOON BUT hey at least I've finished the current one...**

 **Enjoy? And well, I love you guys, thanks for sticking around...**


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